Le hockey féminin en Suède

Team Sweden vs Team Canada, at 1994 World Championships

I would like to express my gratitude towards the people who helped to put this information together. Much thanks to Fredrik Hjelm (Fredrik.Hjelm@PET.uu.se) for providing the second part of the "General Information" section, and Ulla Skiden (ulla@it.kth.se) for providing information about the "upcoming star." All other information in this file was provided by Ivar Grahn (Ivar.K.Grahn@telia.se). Thank you very much for your time and effort.

If anyone has any additional information that you'd like to see included in this page, please sent it to me at andria@sys.toronto.edu.

International Hockey

Sweden qualified to attend the first three IIHF Championnats mondiaux (in 1990, 1992, and 1994). To qualify to attend the Championnats mondiaux, Sweden must finish in the top 5 teams at the European A Championship. Sweden won the silver medal at the 1995 European A Championship, and the gold medal at the 1996 European A Championship!

Sweden placed as follows at the Championnats mondiaux:

• Fourth Place: 1990 Championnats mondiaux: Ottawa, Canada
  
• Fourth Place: 1992 Championnats mondiaux: Tampere, Finland
  
• Fifth Place: 1994 Championnats mondiaux: Lake Placid, USA
  
• to compete: 1997 Championnats mondiaux: Kitchener, Canada
  

Provided below is more detailed information about how Sweden did at the last two European A Championships. Here is a link to the 1995 Team Sweden roster and Sweden's results at the 1995 European A Championship.

• Silver Medal: 1995 European A: at Riga, Latvia
  
• Gold Medal: 1996 European A: at Yaroslavl, Russia
  

1996 European A Championship

Sweden won the GOLD medal. This means that Sweden will compete at the 1997 Championnats mondiaux, which will be held in Kitchener, Canada.

Scores For Sweden

Date   Time  Teams                 Result
960323 12.00 Norway - Sweden       3:6
960324 12.00 Sweden - Germany      2:2
960326 16.00 Sweden - Switzerland  6:3 (2:1, 0:1, 4:1)
960327 20.00 Sweden - Russia       4:2
960329 16.00 Finland - Sweden      1:2

Final Placings

               G W T L  GF:GA Pts
1 Sweden       5 4 1 0  20:11  9
2 Russia       5 4 0 1  17:15  8
3 Finland      5 3 0 2  26: 5  6
4 Norway       5 2 0 3  14:21  4
5 Switzerland  5 1 0 4  11:23  2
6 Germany      5 0 1 4   7:20  1

Exhibition Games:

Tue February 6, 96:
   Sweden 4 -vs- Norway 1  (0-0,3-1,1-0) (in Sweden)
     Number of Spectators : 600 (a new record for women's hockey in Sweden)

Wed February 7, 96:
   Sweden 5 -vs- Norway 0  (1-0,0-0,4-0) (in Sweden)

Fri February 9, 96:
   Sweden 3 -vs- Finland 2  (1-0,1-2,0-1) (in Vermuntila, Finland)
     Scoring for Sweden: Lotta Almblad 2, Anne Ferm

Sat February 10, 96:
   Sweden 2 -vs- Finland 3  (1-1, 1-0, 1-1) (in Tarvasjoki, Finland)
     Scoring for Sweden: Ann Louise Edstarnd, Joa Elfsberg

General Information

There are about 1000 female players of all ages. I've been told that there has been an increase of about 10% per year. Click here for a map of women's hockey teams in Sweden. [Thanks to Ivar for labeling this map and sending it to me.]
-- Ivar Grahn (Ivar.K.Grahn@telia.se)

Sweden's first team for women was MoDo AIK, back in 1969. The first regular series started in 1981, and it became part of the Swedish hockey federation in 1984. Goalie Annika Ahlen is the youngest Swedish athlete to ever participate on a national team. She was 15 when she played her first game for the "Three Crowns." The "TV-Puck" is a tournament that started in 1959 as an experiment. Today it's still here and it is the most important tournament for players under 16. Erika Holt who plays for the "Veddige Hockey Club" was the first girl to play in the TV-Puck tournament.
-- Fredrik Hjelm (Fredrik.Hjelm@PET.uu.se)

Concurrence with ice time of male teams

In many places it is very very difficult to start Women Hockey.

  1st : we have not the same tradition as in Canada.
  2nd : the lack of ice time, the existing men's and boy's teams will not
           give up some of their time on ice.
  3rd : it is very expensive to have another (women) team that
           must have equipment

... some even think that girls aren't built to play hockey. Conservatism!!

Youth Hockey

If a girl wants to start playing hockey when she is 10-14 years old, in general, she'll have to play with the boys (although there may be some girls hockey).

In Stockholm they have a tournament called St Eriks Cup for juniors born 86-79 and for the first time they will have a separate girls' division with 6 teams. There's also girls on some of the boy's teams. In the women leagues there are some pretty young girls playing. This causes a problem because in Sweden juniors up to 15 years are not allowed to have body contact, however body contact is permitted in women's hockey in Sweden. So, what happens when a girl under 15 plays with older girls??? Not body check her ? :-)

In Sweden we have a Junior District Competition for players up to 15 years old. It is held in a different cities each year. This fall there was a 15 year old girl playing for the Halland district. She did play very well.

An Upcoming Star

I have just read all the text about Swedish women's hockey and I feel a very strong urge to tell you about a little girl I know. She plays hockey on the same team as my son. Her name is Evelina Samuelsson. She's 11 years old and is a magnificent hockey player! She has been playing with the boys since she was three years old and trains between August to April. Although quite a few fathers of players on the team mildly protested in the beginning, she is one of the best players on the team. She's such an impressive girl, such an athlete and ice hockey artist, that I really hope that she gets a chance to develop.
-- Ulla Skiden (ulla@it.kth.se)

Women's Hockey within Sweden

1995-96 Women's Hockey Leagues in Sweden

Stockholm League Div I
Teams	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	TP
Vesterhaninge IF	16	13	1	2	153	21	28
Nacka HK	16	11	5	0	160	34	22
FOC Farsta	16	10	4	2	149	23	22
Vallentuna BK	16	4	12	0	30	111	8
Flemingsbergs IF	16	0	16	0	0!!	303	0

Vesterhaninge, Nacka, Farsta and Veddige qualified for the semi-finals. Vesterhaninge and Nacka qualified because they were #1 and #2 in the Stockholm Division I League. Farsta and Veddige qualified by winning the round-robin semi-final qualification.

Semi-finals:

Vesterhaninge IF 2 -vs- FOC Farsta 3
Nacka HC 6 -vs- Veddige HK 0

Finals:

Bronze Medal Game:

Vesterhaninge IF 8 -vs- Veddige HK 2

Gold Medal Game:

Nacka HC 6 -vs- FOC Farsta 5

Final Placings:

1. Nacka HK
2. FOC Farsta
3. Vesterhaninge IF
4. Veddige HK

1994-95 National League Championship

The 1994-95 Swedish Women's National Championship was played March 2-5, 1995 in Stockholm. This link provides more information about the 1994-95 National League Championship and Teams in the League.

The final placings for the 1994-95 National League were:

1. FOC Farsta

2. Nacka HK

3. Vesterhaninge IF

4. Veddige HK

Photo: Pernilla Burholm (defense), Annica Ahlen (goalie), and Anne Ferm (forward).

I've found an article about Women's Hockey in a Swedish book by Arne Norlin. The book is called "Hockey - The tough guy's play," or in Swedish "Hockey - De tuffa lirarnas spel." The article, "The new faces of the Three Crowns" (the Three Crowns is the nick-name of the Swedish national team) also has a nice photo of three Swedish women hockey players (shown here); Pernilla Burholm (defense), Annica Ahlen (goalie), and Anne Ferm (forward). All three play on the national team. -- Ivar Grahn (Ivar.K.Grahn@telia.se)

Swedish Hockey Pictures:

• FOC Farsta: 1994-95 Swedish Champions
• Tina Mansson (top) and Minna Dunder of Swedish National Team
• A Mountain in Northern Sweden
• Nacka HK Girls' Team's Dressing Room
• Sandra Barota of Nacka HK Girls' Team
• Sandra Barota of Nacka HK Girls' Team

Other Swedish Hockey Links:

• Sandra's Hockey Page (by Sandra Barota)
• The Nacka HK Girls' Team
• The Swedish Hockey Home Page (men's)
• Page for several Sports in Sweden (click on the Ishockey link)

Links for Sweden:

• Sweden Information

Renseignements sur le hockey féminin (Index rapide)
Index principal Renseignements généraux International Universitaire Profils de hockeyeuses Questions souvent posées Trucs pour le hockey Lancers | Patinage	Page de Andria	Autres sports pour femmes Hockey en patins à roues alignées Hockey-balle Ballon-balai Ringuette Hockey féminin local Canada | Ontario COWHL | Varsity Blues

URL:  http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~andria/french/Sweden.html